No timetable for Gurode to play guard

Edward Lee

With starting left guard Ben Grubbs listed as doubtful for Sunday's game at the Tennessee Titans due to a toe injury, the prevailing thought was that Andre Gurode -- who is listed as the first backup at center and both guard positions -- would slide into that left guard spot.

But it was Mark LeVoir, an offensive tackle, who got the nod over Gurode.

It was a somewhat surprising development since Gurode had played guard during his first three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. Then again, Gurode had made his living at center, where he was a five-time Pro Bowler.

On Monday, coach John Harbaugh was asked to assess Gurode's development at guard.

"Well, how much advancement, I don’t really know how to measure it," Harbaugh said. "But he’s getting better there. He never played that before, really. He’s been a center his whole career. He’s been a starting center. So some of this stuff was different for him. The techniques [and] the angles were different, and that showed up in practice last week. That’s why we decided to play Mark at guard. And Mark did OK. I think Mark will get better, too. But I think Andre is going to make a lot of progress real fast. He could be part of that equation real soon."